Guardian's top ten war films.

[co-op]

Is Culloden on there? Brilliant

 

[co-op]

Apocalypse Now isn't even a war film that's half the point of it.

 

[fucthest8]

No "Oh! What a Lovely War" ?

 

[no-no]

Saw Lebanon not long a go, pretty good. Most of it shot via the gunsight of an israeli tank.

 

[Casually Red]

Is Culloden on there? Brilliant

havent seen that one, thanks for posting .

 

[scanner]

"All Quiet on the Western Front" deserves a mention, as does "A Walk in the Sun."

 

[SpookyFrank]

The Thin Red Line is an abysmal heap of dog shit. Spends so long staring at its own navel and gleefully huffing its own farts it doesn't even bother to tell a story.

 

[redsquirrel]

Waltz with Bashir is an excellent war movie... Should be in the list - especially as it's so different from other movies in the 'genre'.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185616/

No it shouldn't, it's good sure but it's nowhere the top ten of all time.

Forgive him/her, he/she does not know of what he/she is saying!

I know exactly what I'm saying, some people seem to confuse length and quality. Das Boot really just isn't that good, its not terrible by any means but apart from it's length it's pretty much a by the numbers war movie - full of the usual cliches e.g. "good" crew vs one nazi officer.

 

[8den]

A Bridge Too Far would be my all time favourite though .

Good call. If you're interested William Goldman book "adventures in the screen trade" is utterly marvelous about several of films he wrote (All the Presidents, Princess Bride, and A Bridge too far) His description of adapting a bride too far is a fascinating read. It includes his reasons why he thinks the film was a box office failure (to a degree) Like that people didn't buy Robert Ryan as General Gavin because he was "too young" to general despite the fact that Ryan was the same age as Gavin was in '43. comes up time and time again there were so many astonishing moments of actual heroism that seemed so ludicrous audience wouldnt' by it. Like Goldman described his frustration that he couldn't write a scene to accurately film the most dramatic and bravest moment of Market Garden. He said the most incredible moment of Market Garden wasn't Ryan's 1st wave getting cut down, it was the 2nd and 3rd wave who witnessed Ryan's 1st wave getting cut down but who got into the boats and still tried to cross the river knowing their likely fate.

Goldman wrote draft after draft and just couldn't find a way to convey that drama.

 

[friedaweed]

No shaving Ryan's privates

 

[DotCommunist]

Soldier Blue is supposed to be a western but I recon its a war film, and these top ten lists are so lazy they make me annoyed. I checked out the war one and the sf one and really, phoning it in.

 

[girasol]

No it shouldn't, it's good sure but it's nowhere the top ten of all time.

I think it should and let's face it, it's not like it's an exact science or that you have final say is it?

 

[Artaxerxes]

The Longest Day is my favourite tbh, sad to see it missing. I like its looser collection of slightly connected stories, there's no big damn hero saving the world for FREEDOM! lathered all over it. Also gets across the scale of what WW2 was, bloody massive.

Three Kings is actually fairly good, they mentioned the bit that's stuck with me since it came out which is the shot in the stomach/cutaway of damage, its a powerful and haunting image for a 14 year old (fuck me its that old?) to take away with them.

Thin Red Line is a pile of shit though.

 

[Sweet FA]

The Thin Red Line is an abysmal heap of dog shit.

How can one person be so wrong in the space of only 11 words?

 

[DaveCinzano]

Three Kings is actually fairly good, they mentioned the bit that's stuck with me since it came out which is the shot in the stomach/cutaway of damage, its a powerful and haunting image for a 14 year old (fuck me its that old?) to take away with them.

https://screenagekicks.wordpress.com/2011/06/12/first-aid-005-three-kings/

 

[DotCommunist]

The one where Michael Caine is a good nazi and his equally good nazi mates are unmasked when one saves a little girl from drowning in a watermill.

 

[N_igma]

Platoon should be on there too awesome film.

 

[Casually Red]

The Longest Day is my favourite tbh, sad to see it missing. I like its looser collection of slightly connected stories, there's no big damn hero saving the world for FREEDOM! lathered all over it. Also gets across the scale of what WW2 was, bloody massive.
.

one of my favourites too. Bit hammy in parts but overall pretty fantastic. Its a proper war film. Massive cast of big names, just like Bridge too far in that regard. Favourite bits the parachutists who land directly on the village and get massacred. That was really well done. The Germans were pretty good in it too.

And Battle of the Bulge. Oh...cant leave out The Big Red One . Proper Sunday afternoon watch with your dad films.

 

[Casually Red]

The one where Michael Caine is a good nazi and his equally good nazi mates are unmasked when one saves a little girl from drowning in a watermill.

the eagle has landed

 

[seventh bullet]

And also Trial on the Road.

I haven't seen that.

What do you think of Ivan's Childhood, by the way?

I do like it, however I have not seriously looked at his later films. His mate Konchalovsky makes a brief appearance as a nerdy conscript. The actor who plays the young lad, full of hatred, Nikolai Burlyaev, is a homophobic twat.

Here's The Commissar in full, although without subs.

 

[DaveCinzano]

War Is Boring suggests that Chinese Top Gun rip-off Sky Fighters is not one of the best war films ever made:

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/2a454bf48e9d

 

[agricola]

The Thin Red Line is an abysmal heap of dog shit. Spends so long staring at its own navel and gleefully huffing its own farts it doesn't even bother to tell a story.

The music is wonderful though.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

It depends what you want. Do you want realistic depiction of war; or the reinterpretation of war as seen through the mores of the period during which the film was produced?

There are some good ones under number 2: Kelly's Heroes, Apocalypse, Little Big Man.

Number one, I like Bridge Too Far, Battle of the Bulge, Twelve O'clock High. The Train with Burt Lancaster is good.

 

[girasol]

Platoon should be on there too awesome film.

Yeah good call, Platoon really made a mark on me. Maybe because I was so young when I watched it (Actually went to the cinema to see it...). Not seen it for a long time, maybe I ought to.

 

[redsquirrel]

The Western one is equally dreadful - no Rio Bravo, no Anthony Mann, no Johnny Guitar.

 

[DJWrongspeed]

Tricky to pin down what a 'War' film is. 'Come and See' for instance is more about 'occupation' rather than the outright battle. It's still a great film though. I'd say 'Saving Private Ryan' should be in there since it brought cinema audiences into the terror of the battle front. There are bits to dislike of course but it's worthy of a place over say 'Where eagles dare.'

Recent film is this Róża from Poland about the post war aftermath. Even grimmer than the war itself for some folk.

 

[Belushi]

A film that is set entirely within a meeting room. Conspiracy, about the 1942 Wannsee Conference

 

[MrSki]

Zulu.

Michael Caine makes his debut. Shit special effects by today's standards but otherwise a great film.

 

[Ponyutd]

Tunes of Glory. Alec Guinness John Mills and Dennis Price.There's soldiers in it and Guinness and Mills are at War with each other. Other than that it's not a war film...but it's quite exceptional. Based in the barracks at Edinburgh.

 

[Bakunin]

With the First World War in mind: